Thanks to an engine that expired 18 laps from the finish, Keselowski finished 35th, and the defending champion is 15th in the standings, 28 points out of 10th with just one race left before the Chase field is set.

The top 10 in the standings after the race next week at Richmond make the Chase while the two drivers 11th-20th with the most wins earn wild-card spots.

Winless this year, even if Keselowski wins at Richmond, he still might not make the Chase.

“We don’t dictate our own fate, which is never good,” Keselowski said. “Obviously, we have the speed and performance to get there, but we haven’t put together the execution or the luck.

“There’s only so much you can control. Maybe this was control and maybe it wasn’t, I don’t know until the guys take (the engine) apart and look at it, but we ran up front and we continue to show that we at least have the pieces of what it takes every week to be a title threat and to be in the Chase.”

There are seven drivers who have clinched spots in the Chase — Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth have clinched top-10 spots and 12th-place Kasey Kahne has clinched a wild card thanks to two wins.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., seventh in the standings but winless, has a 37-point edge on 11th and needs to finish just 32nd at Richmond to make it. He finished eighth at Atlanta.

Logano, thanks to his second-place finish at Atlanta, is eighth in the standings with a 16-point cushion (a 11th-place finish at Richmond clinches a Chase spot) while Greg Biffle is ninth with a 14-pont cushion (ninth at Richmond is his magic number).

Logano and Biffle both have a win and would be in position to earn a wild-card spot if they fall out of the top 10.

Kurt Busch is 10th, just six points ahead of 11th-place Jeff Gordon. They’re both winless.

Kahne is 10 points outside the top 10, and currently holds a wild-card spot along with Martin Truex Jr. (15 points outside of the top 10 with a win). Ryan Newman, who also has a win, is five points behind Truex and has an eight-point cushion on Keselowski

“We just haven’t put together all those pieces every week and that’s what it takes,” Keselowski said. “That doesn’t mean we don’t have what it takes, we just don’t have the consistency in putting all those pieces together this year.

“I know that all those pieces could come together tomorrow. Unfortunately, it didn’t come together today and that’s what matters the most.”

It did come together for Logano, who has finishes of first, fifth and second the last three weeks.

“I’m pleased with where we’re at, but I want more,” Logano said. “I want to win more races. I want to be up towards the front a little more often. Obviously, the last three weeks we’ve been there.”

While Kyle Busch won the race, Logano and the four drivers on his tail are all on the Chase bubble — Truex finished third, Busch fourth, Newman fifth and Gordon sixth.

Gordon was one of a few drivers to pit with 25 laps remaining for tires in hopes of rallying his way through the field.

“I am having fun,” Gordon said. “These last couple weeks we have been battling and passing and having a great time out there, and that is all we can ask for. We didn’t do enough of that earlier in the year and that is why we are in the position we are in.”